Skoda sells 4500 new cars through scrappage
July 31, 2009 by Anthony Crawford
Skoda in the UK has taken over 4,500 new car orders as part of the government’s scrappage scheme which allows you to trade in a car or small van which is more than 10 years old and receive £2000 towards your new car.
The Scrappage Allowance/Vehicle Discount Scheme is a £300 million program, introduced as part of the 2009 budget, and involves new car buyers scrapping a car or small van that is more than 10-years old.
The UK government will offer a £1000 incentive, which is matched by the participating vehicle dealers. The discount is then deducted from the price paid for the new car.
With sales figures over 4500 vehicles for Skoda alone, clearly this is a hugely successful scheme that has the added benefit of removing potentially unsafe cars and vans from the road.
It’s also great for the environment, given many of these aging cars are nowhere near as CO2 efficient as their contemporary counterparts.
To date, the Skoda Fabia is the best selling car to scrappage customers, accounting for close to 81 per cent of the total sales.
Is this something the Australian government should look at? You tell us.
Print it: 
Of course the Gvt should look at this. Australia has one of the worlds oldest car fleets (that’s an actual true fact) and I’m sure many would be willing to trade their old bombs in for something safer, more economical, faster etc etc. So if they do it there’s a possibility that new cars could replace old bombs – something that I think i’d enjoy seeing!
Good for Skoda though – many were expecting the Hyundai i20 to be the best seller in the program. I wish they had that here…in time I suppose!
There should be a list of classic cars that can’t be scrapped.
It is already getting rediculous trying to find parts for my HZ
Aaarrrghh, why isn’t Skoda bringing the Fabia here? I do think it would be very successful and lift the brands image with the young folk. It has the right blend of pretty looks, honesty and reliability that would make it a sure-fire hit here in Australia.
Yes, absolutely! A survey by our company 3 years ago showed that 65% of cars registered on Australian roads are over 10 years old. I’m sure the figures would be the same today.
A great scheme if you want to help the car industry and run cleaner more fuel efficient cars on our roads.
Too right Badass. Skoda Australia (or VGA or Matthew Weisner), if you’re looking at this, bring the Fabia here, please!
Yes!! I agree with all of the above posts, they have said everything I wanted to say. Bring them both in, gov – scrappage and Skoda – Fabia.
Are people are blind or stupid. Australia doesn’t need a govt. backed “discount” scheme, when the car companies have been discounting to a similar level already.
Don’t for one minute think that the already available discounts won’t evaporate the moment an alternative discount scheme (the so-called scrappage scheme) becomes available.
Net result to the customer is: same price, higher taxing to pay for it or something else misses funding.
I have a 1989 ford laser. I would love to buy a new car, say the hyundai i20 when it comes out or the recnetly released Suzuki Alto. If the government put in a approx $2000 scrappage incentive this would motivate me to buy a new car
Whereas without the handout you are like half the rest of the country and can’t do a thing for yourself.
Just go and buy a car if your old bomb is dead, there are plenty of slightly used vehicles that are $2000 cheaper than a new one, so you don’t need a Gov’t handout…..do you?
LOL, Reckless1 A very good point!
DesignEng and Reckless1 have nailed it…….Cheers
Building a new vehicle (from steel and hydrocarbons) and shipping it from Japan (using more hydrocarbons) will create far more green house gas than driving your ‘89 corolla to the shops & back until it dies… Not pointless but definitely not environmentaly sound logic.
The idea sounds great. it would reduce the amount of unroadworthy or barely safe cars on our roads if it worked.
And there in lies the problem. If the government offered $3,000 or $4,000 to get people out of bombs and into modern cars, the price of new cars would go up by $2,000 or $3,000 as the industry pockets the bonus. This is happening with other government shemes, why would it not happen again?
Only if one brand became aggressive would it actually work, even then the real benifit would be limited only to one or two brands’ small cars. These would be the brands that keep their pricing low to get maximum amount of trade (probably Hyundai / Kia).
Doubt the scrappage laws would come into effect here soon, even though its deeply needed.
Kevin Rudd has borrowed heaps of money to splash on the stimulus.
The government should start the scrappage scheme here in Australia too but only highly fuel efficient cars should be allowed to be purchased under this scheme. This would help reduce Australia’s depends on fuel & reduce Import cost.
Can’t believe Ford were stupid enough to dump building the Focus in Oz for a 4 cylinder Falcon.
Think the Fiesta or Cruze would be great cars to buy under the scrappage scheme. This might get both GM and Ford to manufacturer them locally & helps keep manufacturing jobs in Oz.
SKODA = ORPHAN
How long before this brand dies in Oz, as VW did with Seat?
Seat at least look s/exy, unlike this brand which look like bleach!
Renault too would be on shaky ground, they need the Dacia Sandero here ASAP, forget the prestooge idea Renault, it wont work with your brand, the Sandero @ $14k would wake up your in-coma dealerships
Angel = New identity…. I wonder which frequently emberassed poster could it be?!!
Also Bavarian Missile, please explain what orphan means???
I think you know full well what a orphan is, in particular with reference to car terms.
VAG backed the wrong horse, should have gone with and imported SEAT brand, at least they are modern, fresh, and good looking, they also currently have a model that used around 3L/100km and does less than 100co2/km without any special tricks or hybrid technology, be the car i would own if i lived in Europe [Or a DaciaSandero on LPG]
Kind Regards,
B/M [Not W!]
Tomas, seems your the one that’s getting embarrassed here,above poster isnt me and know idea who Angel is…………..not my writing style . Seems someone is having some fun with you !
Yeah, fun-fun-fun till daddy takes the T-Bird away!